Dalgarven Mill is near

Kilwinning Kilwinning (, sco, Kilwinnin; gd, Cill D’Fhinnein) is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is on the River Garnock, north of Irvine, about southwest of Glasgow. It is known as "The Crossroads of Ayrshire". Kilwinning was also a Civil Pa ...

, in the Garnock Valley,

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east a ...

, Scotland and it is home to the Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume. The

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

has been completely restored over a number of years and is run by the independent Dalgarven Mill Trust. The village of

Dalgarven The tiny village of Dalgarven in North Ayrshire, Scotland is located just north of Kilwinning on the road to Dalry. History In 1881 some two hundred people lived in the village, the mill being at its heart, with a Sunday school, smithy, joine ...

was largely destroyed by the construction of the main A737 road, but the mill buildings survive and are open as a tourist attraction and educational resource, interpreting local history in addition to its role as a museum of Ayrshire country life. Very few mills remain in Ayrshire and this is an example which has been preserved due to the foresight of the family of the last miller who saw a modern role for an ancient industrial site and traditional social meeting-place. Some of the outbuildings have been converted for use as an

antique shop An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops can be located either locally or, with the advent of the Internet, found online. An antiques shop can also be located within an ant ...

, others are still occupied as dwellings and some are in the process of being converted to uses which will enhance the quality of the experience of visitors to the mill complex. The Ferguson family, descendants of the last miller, are still involved with the running of the museum, working with a board of trustees who are all volunteers. The mill is not part of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

or the Museum of Scotland; it is however an accredited four star Ayrshire visitor attraction.

History of the Dalgarven mills

There has been a mill on this site of Groatholm since the 14th century, set up by the monks of Kilwinning Abbey. The first mill was a waulk or fulling mill producing woollen cloth. Retting was carried out here in ponds next to the river, this process being a stage in the manufacturing of vegetable fibres, especially the bast fibres. It involves submerging plant stems such as

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is '' Corchorus ol ...

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of '' Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants ...

in water, and soaking them for a period of time to loosen the fibers from the other components of the stem. The fibres can then be used to produce linen and other products, such as paper for banknotes, rope, etc. The present mill was erected in 1614 as a corn mill and rebuilt in 1880 after being damaged by fire. The River Garnock's waters power a 6-metre diameter breast-shot wheel that drives the French burr millstones through cast iron gearing. The traditional methods of producing flour can be followed during a tour of the mill. The wheel turns, when possible, following the almost total renewal of the mill machinery and a recent (2006-9) replacement of wooden components of the wheel, sluice, etc. The mill race, leat or lade was critical to the efficient working of the mill and was a specialised craft; a leatwright is recorded on a grave in the Loudoun Kirk graveyard near Galston, East Ayrshire. The

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

on the River Garnock is made of boulders which are carefully placed and locked together creating a millpond that supplies a good head of water to the wheel through the lade. The weir was built on a natural dyke which runs across the Garnock at this point, its existence being carefully exploited by the monks of Kilwinning Abbey who chose the site for the mill. These dykes (bands of especially hard rock) are found at several points crossing the river and many were elsewhere were exploited as the bases for dams, such as also occurred at

Cunninghamhead Cunninghamhead is a hamlet on the Annick Water in the Parish of Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The area was part of the old Cunninghamhead estate, and once contained several watermills. Cunninghamhead and the mills on the Annick Water The ...

Mill on the

River Annick The Annick Water (previously also spelled as Annack, Annoch (1791) or Annock) is the largest tributary of the River Irvine. The river runs from Long Loch, just inside East Renfrewshire, in a generally south-western direction through North Ayr ...

. A feature of many mills was the presence of trees or other structures shading the wheel from the intense summer sun. The reason for this was that when the wheel was not turning the wood components dried out and warped, putting a great deal of stress on the whole structure, putting it out of shape and creating breaks in the buckets, etc. At Dalgarven the wheel was originally enclosed by high walls which served the same purpose as trees. Dalgarven Mill Waterwheel and members of the public at a Guided Tour

Dalgarven Mill Waterwheel and members of the public at a Guided Tour

The Dalgarven wheel is a low breastshot, where the water strikes the wheel at a quarter of its diameter or height of the wheel and it turns with an anti-clockwise rotation. On the outer edge of each bucket is a 'sacrificial board' which will break away if any object becomes wedged beneath it. This is very important, as the stresses and strains set up by the wheel suddenly stopping would cause considerable damage to the various cogs and to the drive to the grinding stones themselves, which have significant mass and momentum when employed in the process of grinding. The use of iron brackets to provide support to the wooden paddles on the wheel is an unusual feature. The massive wooden hirst supporting the grindstones can be viewed from inside of the mill. In the 1940s, the miller at Dalgarven used the wheel to produce electricity which was stored in liquid acid batteries. At present (2006) the Mill Trustees are looking into the possibilities of using the wheel to produce electricity to help offset the mills contribution to global warming on the basis of 'Think Global, Act Local'. DalgarvenMillPainting

The mill building has an unusual structural feature, an alcove, designed to attract nesting owls which would then feed off and help to control the vermin which stores of cereals and other foodstuffs always attract. One feature of the mill is the relatively small number of windows. This may be purely practical, however avoidance of paying too high a '

window tax Window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France, and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses from the p ...

' may have been a consideration. Window tax was first levied in England in 1696 to offset the expenses of making up the gold and silver deficiency in the re-coinage of William III reign caused by clipping and filing of coins. It was set at two shillings for small tenements, six shillings for buildings with up to ten windows and ten shillings for those with twenty windows. Cottages were exempt.Palermo, Raymond (2001). Coin News. July. Pps. 24 - 25. ISSN 0958-1391. It was based on the number of windows in a house and large mansions often had many existing windows blocked up, such as a whole side of Loudoun Castle, in Ayrshire, Scotland. It was repealed in 1851 and replaced by a tax on inhabited houses.Encyclopædia Britannica (1953). Vol.23. Pub. London. Whinstonedalgarven

Lying on the cobbles outside the original waulk mill and stables is a large oval sandstone object with metal attachments on its central axis. This was used to crush whin or

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are ...

in a shallow trough, the stone being dragged up and down by a horse, making the spiny and tough branches of the plant suitable for use as animal feed. It was however only used if other sources of feed were lacking. The mill's history is laid out in the Trust's publication - ''A Miller's Tale. The Life and Times of Dalgarven Mill'', by Robert Ferguson, son of the last miller.Ferguson, Robert (2005). ''A Miller's Tale. The Life and Times of Dalgarven Mill.'' . Heron, on a tour of Scotland in 1799, records that the miller at Dalgarven had constructed a wooden bridge in the Japanese style and interesting gardens with patterns of low box hedges.Heron, Robert (1799). ''A Journey through the Western Parts of Scotland''. P. 146.

"Thirlage" and the mills of Ayrshire

Thirlage was the feudal law by which the laird (lord) could force all those farmers living on his lands to bring their grain to his mill to be ground. Additionally they had to carry out repairs on the mill, maintain the lade and weir as well as conveying new millstones to the site. The width of some of the first roads was determined by the requirements of at least two people on either side of a millstone with a wooden axle called a 'mill-wand'.Gauldie, Enid (1981). The Scottish Miller 1700 - 1900. Pub. John Donald. . The Thirlage Law was repealed in 1779 and after this many mills fell out of use as competition and unsubsidised running costs took their toll. This may explain why so many mills went out of use, as deduced from comparing Armstrong's 1775 mapArmstrong and Son. Engraved by S. Pyle (1775). ''A New Map of Ayr Shire comprehending Kyle, Cunningham and Carrick.'' with the 1885 OS map. For example, Lambroch Mill on Lambroughton Loch served the small Lambroughton farms and apart from stone rubble and some other indications, it has entirely vanished.

The Museum of Country Life

The three-storey grain store has been converted during the main restoration period of 1985 to 1987, to house an extensive collection of Ayrshire farming and domestic memorabilia, reflecting the self-sufficiency of the pre-industrial rural community that was Dalgarven. Displays include the themes of ploughing,

threshing Threshing, or thrashing, is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History ...

, harvesting and the village smithy. An antique shop is housed in an old outbuilding, a cafe provides snacks and meals and the original mill on the River Garnock's edge is being developed.

Views of the Museum and Mill

The River Garnock

For centuries the waters of the Garnock have supplied the motive power for the work of the mill. A weir and mill lade or race direct the waters to the mill's waterwheel.

The exterior of the mill

File:Dalgarven0724.JPG, Welcome to Dalgarven Mill. File:Dalgarvenmillfrontage.JPG, The front of Dalgarven Mill in 2007. File:Grindstone dalgarven.JPG, A Runner millstone. File:Owlhole.jpg, The Owl Hole and alighting platform at the back of the main mill building. File:Dalgarvenoldmill2.JPG, The 'old stables and waulk mill' buildings. File:DalgarvenMilestone.jpg, A cast-iron milestone at Dalgarven Mill. File:Communitywoodlanddalgarven.JPG, The Community woodland sign.

The interior of the mill

The interiors of the mill buildings have been entirely restored from the derelict condition that they had fallen into. File:DalgarvenCostunes.jpg, A Victorian servant on a mill open day File:Dalgarvenwaterwheel12.JPG, The waterwheel gearing File:Dalgarvengrindstone.JPG, The millstones floor, with the 'hoist' for lifting the stones prior to dressing them

Exhibition areas

An upper floor of the mill is divided up into separate areas that recreate Victorian scenes from middle and working class houses. File:The Victorian Bedroom at Dalgarven.JPG, The Victorian Bedroom File:Dairy exhibition at Dalgarven.JPG, Dairy items, such as cheese and butter making, etc. File:The Blair sawmill at Dalgarven.JPG, The Blair Estate sawmill File:Luggage and travel in Victorian Britain.JPG, Luggage and travel in Victorian Britain File:The Victorian Miller's sittingroom.JPG, The Victorian miller's sitting room File:The Victorian Kitchen at Dalgarven.JPG, The Victorian kitchen File:Dalgarven Exhibition.JPG, Costumes

Costume collection

The mill houses an extensive collection of costume and clothing from every walk of life. The exhibition area on the ground floor of the building is used to display items from the extensive collection. The exhibitions are changed regularly. The costume collection is put to other practical purposes, such as for educational visits, open days and other special purposes.

Country life in days gone by

The first and second floors of the mill show all the aspects of country life with re-constructions of interiors (parlour, kitchen and bedroom) from Victorian times and displays of farm implements, Ayrshire Whitework, lace, luggage, dairy work, wildlife, storage jars, a bee skep and stand,

quoits Quoits ( or ) is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike (sometimes called a hob, mott or pin). The game of quoits encompasses several distinct var ...

, early

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven. The dirt is collected by either a ...

s, washing machines,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

s' tools, etc. The single room in a cottars house has been re-created, complete with box-beds, girnal, swee and other features, such as the bible-chair. On each floor the restored mill machinery is open to view (hoppers, grindstones, wheel gearing, etc.) and on the ground floor is an exhibition of the stages in the restoration of the mill. The exhibition shows the enormous amount of work that had to be done to bring the mill back to life. In the grounds of the mill are a number of items of interest, such as a cast-iron

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

and various horse- and tractor-drawn ploughs, whin crushing stone, etc.

Education

School groups can visit the mill as part of their studies and are given guided tours and / or specific talks on the many topics which are covered by the trust's collections. The riverside walk provides many opportunities for various studies, such as river life, wildflower meadows, biodiversity, geography, geology, etc. The water wheel gives a focus for studying sustainability.

Other features of interest

Cup and ring mark stone

A type of

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

called a cup and ring mark stone is recorded as existing at Dalgarven by John Smith,Smith, John (1895). ''Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire.'' Pub. Elliot Stock. p.85. the notable Ayrshire antiquarian. Unfortunately the exact whereabouts of the stone is unknown; however a copy has been produced and is on display in the grounds of the mill. The purpose of cup and ring marked stones is unknown.Bord, Janet and Colin. (1973) ''Mysterious Britain''. Pub. Garnstone. . P. 44.Morris, Ronald W B (I967-68). '"The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptured of Scotland: a Survey of the Southern Counties, Part II." ''Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot.'', Vol.100. P.47. The carvings on the original stone would have dated from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

times, being as old as 6000 years. This Dalgarven example is unusual in having cups and connecting toughs, but no rings. Often up to five concentric rings are found circling the central cup.

Fossils

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

-bearing

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

boulders are sometimes found in the river with fossilized tree fern roots and imprints of the trunk. These represent long-extinct plant species which grew to an impressive height compared to their modern relatives which only reach a few feet. Millions of years ago these plants thrived in a warm and hospitable climate and gave rise to much of the Scottish

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

deposits.

Riverside walk

Visitors should leave time to wander through the unspoilt landscape formed by the gently flowing River Garnock. In spring, the wild flower meadow is at its best, in summer, sit by the riverbank and watch the heron, swallows,

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

and other wildlife. A Community Woodland has been established and the site is open access. The gravel bed of the river was an important source of income for the millers, for through the estate they had sole right to the extraction of the gravel here, which was sold for various farm and horticultural purposes. The meadows are particularly rich in pignut ('' Conopodium majus''), a relative of parsley, which formed a breaktime snack for children in former times. If the plant is dug up a small potato-like structure is found which when eaten raw has a slightly nutty taste. It is available commercially for salads, etc. Hemlock water dropwort grows well in the wetter areas and is best left alone as the name ''hemlock'' suggests. The large leaves of the butterbur ('' Petasites hybridus'') are found in several areas; its name harkens back to the days before clingfilm or cheap paper when the leaves were used to wrap butter destined for the market. Water ragwort (or Saracen's ragwort) (a species of ''Senecio'') is an introduced plant which grows along the riverside in tall stands. It is common on the Garnock and at present quite rare elsewhere.

Himalayan balsam ''Impatiens glandulifera'', Himalayan balsam, is a large annual plant native to the Himalayas. Via human introduction it is now present across much of the Northern Hemisphere and is considered an invasive species in many areas. Uprooting or cutt ...

or policemen's helmets is another introduction, but a common one.

Giant hogweed ''Heracleum mantegazzianum'', commonly known as giant hogweed, is a monocarpic perennial herbaceous plant in the carrot family Apiaceae. ''H. mantegazzianum'' is also known as cartwheel-flower, giant cow parsley, giant cow parsnip, or hogsb ...

is beginning to make its presence felt. It is another plant which should never be handled as the sap can cause severe blistering and scarring of the skin. Ayrshire Rivers Trust are a local conservation charity that have been highly effective controlling invasive weeds in Ayrshire and are soon to tackle giant hogweed on the Garnock and other rivers in North Ayrshire. More information on the work of the Trust is available through their website at www.ayrshireriverstrust.org Stewartonflower2

The Stewarton flowerDickie, T. W. (1915), ''Robertland'', 10/07/1915. Annals of the Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers Society. 1913 - 1919. P. 110. or pink purslane ('' Claytonia sibirica'') is common in wetter areas. It has white or pink flowers at this site, but closer to Stewarton it is almost always white. It seems that it was first introduced as a white variety in the Stewarton area in Victorian times and the common pink variety, introduced later, spread to other areas. Dalgarven, it seems, is on the edge of the white flower zone of dominance. Dalgarven is the only known site for the pocket plum gall (''

Taphrina padi ''Taphrina padi'' is a fungal plant pathogen that induces the form of pocket plum gall that occurs on bird cherry (''Prunus padus''). The gall is a chemically induced distortion of the fruits, which are swollen, hollow, curved and greatly elonga ...

'') which develops on bird cherry. Coppicing of the riverside

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

trees is still carried out. Alders grow well in wet soils and are specially adapted for the low nutrient conditions through having large root nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria which enrich the soil in the same way as clover plants and other legumes. The many hedgerow trees in the vicinity of the mill were not planted by farmers for 'visual effect', they were crops and the wood was used for building and fencing. The miller needed

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornbeam ...

wood for mill machinery, in particular the cogs on the drive wheels from the waterwheel. It is not generally appreciated how much the Ayrshire landscape has changed its character over the last few hundred years, for even in the 1760-70 ''Statistical Account'' it is stated that "there was no such thing to be seen as trees or hedges in the parish; all was naked and open". Scrophularia umbrosa

Countryside walks and the Sustrans cyclepath

A series of leaflets describing walks from the mill is available at a nominal fee. The

Sustrans Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United K ...

cyclepath from Irvine and Largs to Glasgow runs close nearby and cyclists often drop in for refreshment and a look around before heading up passed the Blair Estate and then along the old Lochwinnoch railway line via the

Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park is the collective name for areas of countryside set aside for conservation and recreation on the South Clyde estuary in Scotland. The park covers an area of of Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, stre ...

Johnstone Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun,
gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

or Kilmacolm. The Dusk Water joins the Garnock at Dalgarven and one of Ayrshire's most interesting natural curiosities, Cleeves Cove cave system in the Dusk Glen, is within walking distance via Cockenzie and Auchenskeith farms.

Geocaching

The popular pastime of geocaching is represented on the nature walk by a hidden cache which contains a log book for visitors' comments and a 'take something and leave something choice'. A GPS is required for full participation, by logging on to the Geocaching website to enjoy visiting interesting (usually rural) locations.

Blair House

Until recently the home of the Borthwick family, Blair House, is nearby and had a long tradition of allowing public access to its grounds. It was said to be the house with the longest continuous occupation by the same family in Scotland until the family sold up in 2012.

Notes

References

*Bennett, Graham (2006). Coin News. April 2006, Pps. 51-52. *Wood, J. Scott (2002). "An Architectural Survey of a Meal Mill at Coldstream by Beith, North Ayrshire." Paper No.55. ''Pub. Assoc. Cert. Field Arch.'' (Glasgow University).

External links

YouTube Video of Dalgarven Mill and the River GarnockDalgarven Mill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalgarven Mill - Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume History of North Ayrshire Museums in North Ayrshire Rural history museums in Scotland Mill museums in Scotland Fashion museums in the United Kingdom Category B listed buildings in North Ayrshire Garnock Valley